Cheyenne Foster receives Student of the Month Scholarship

Cheyenne Foster was chosen as the recipient of the Community State Bank Senior of the Month Scholarship. BGHS teachers vote for the students they feel embody a character trait of the month. Students must maintain a 3.0 or higher GPA, 95 percent attendance, participate in activities, and plan to further their education in some way. Cheyenne was chosen as the November Senior of the Month because of her citizenship characteristics: Doing your share to make your school, your community and the world around you a better place.

Following is Cheyenne’s essay:

When the Smallest Things Count

By: Cheyenne Foster

Many people don’t trust banks; for one to even be mentioned conjures to the mind images of greed, and harsh business people who have no sympathy or loyalty to those they maintain the funding of.

This, of course is, in our current day and age, a logical train of thought. With the economy at a point where families and businesses all across the country are struggling to make ends meet, the last place people are prepared to trust is a bank. Already pinching pennies and cutting down
on personal spending, the last thing anyone wants to do is entrust their money to a large,
impersonal bank that doesn’t think of them as a name with a family and needs, but rather a
number that may or may not hold significance, depending on an individual’s over-all value to the establishment.

This is what makes a community bank so special-because it isn’t these things. Just by
walking in the door of one, a customer already feels welcome, and when they walk to the
counter, they’re not a number, but a name, and a friend, because the people who work there are the same ones who live in and understand the community.

And this, perhaps, it was separates a community bank so much from the others. The fact that the bank is involved with its community makes all the difference; it means that those who
give loans, who help with budgets and spending, they understand what’s going on locally, and they can relate to business proposals and loan requests with applicable knowledge of just how
much potential there is. A big, city bank? Their people haven’t the slightest clue the troubles of the “common folk,” and they have no intention of ever knowing or acknowledging them.

Especially in a rural area such as this, understanding the clients is crucial to a strong relationship between the bank and the customer. Here, and many other places across the U.S., there are farmers, small business owners, and families who need a place they can rely on to keep their money safe. With life’s daily toils, no one wants to have to worry about someone scheming with their money -they want to be able to sleep at night, knowing that, of all places, even their bank is looking out for them.

See, what many larger banks don’t understand is how much of a customer’s life pivots on
the money they store or borrow. For many, it’s the only means they have to send their children to college; for others, it’s the only assurance they have of security for when they retire. Big banks, with CEO’s and officials who come from big-money that’s been passed down for generations, can’t understand the worries of such insecurities. A community bank, though, doesn’t only see this on a daily basis; they share the concerns and experiences of the same people who bank there.

And that’s all anyone really wants; that feeling of security. While some other banks may be able to offer the same feelings of ease, the truth is, no one can accomplish it quite like a community bank. While big-time banks may offer gas cards and prizes to people that open accounts, it’s these smaller banks that offer up something much more rewarding when you walk through the door: a smile, which reaches a lot further than any complimentary toaster ever has.